Once Upon a Time: Strange Case (6x04)

Well... huh. That was unexpected. But in a good way!

Cons:

Before we get to the main plot of the episode, which I liked, I want to talk about the setup in this episode for our Aladdin story, which I didn't like. Snow is back to work as a teacher, and she has a new teacher's aid, a woman from the land of untold stories. This is Jasmine, which is painfully obvious from the second she appears on screen. She helps Snow to incorporate her new self into her old role as a teacher, and connect with the kids from the land of untold stories in brand new ways. Then, as the episode ends, Jasmine meets up with the oracle who showed Emma her death. The oracle is apparently looking for Aladdin in Storybrooke, but has been unable to find him yet.

My problems are many. First of all, Snow's whole "I need to learn to be a good teacher again" thing is weird and kind of out of nowhere. I liked the idea of her opening up a school for the kids, but I thought we were going to see her planning and developing that idea, and then opening things back up eventually. Instead, the school is just... up and running all of a sudden. And Snow suddenly sucks as a teacher? I don't know. It just felt like a shoe-horned reason to have a "find yourself" plot. Jasmine, who went by a different name for the majority of the episode, inspires Snow with a sad story about a princess who couldn't accept who she was, and who let her kingdom down because of it. It was all just so generic, and it didn't make me feel excited about learning Jasmine's story. (Although I did love Galavant, so the actress is already a hit with me).

Oh, and the ending? Way to insult our intelligence. They had the oracle show up and then they did the whole dramatic reveal by having her call the woman "Jasmine" for the first time. Now, I don't want to be snobbish, but is there anybody out there who didn't know that that woman was Jasmine? Pulease.

There was one very brief little thread running through here about David being weirded out about Emma and Hook moving in together. He makes Emma pancakes and talks about how he's worried they won't get to see each other as much now that Killian is moving in with Emma. And then later he sort of gives the relationship his blessing. I guess this plot thread just does not work for me, given the father/daughter dynamic that these two have. David didn't raise Emma. This isn't a case of a man watching his little girl take an important step. They're the same age, practically. It just rubbed me the wrong way.

Pros:

So, the flashback in this episode was a big success, and it tied in to the Storybrooke stuff in a meaningful and plot-propelling way. Basically, Jekyll creates a serum to separate out the evil parts of a person, and he creates Mr. Hyde. Jekyll then sends Mr. Hyde to woo the woman he was interested in, but Hyde and this lady end up getting it on. The serum wears off, and Mary wakes up in bed with Jekyll, to both of their shock. As Jekyll tries to stop Mary from leaving in disgust, he accidentally pushes her out the window and kills her. He then drinks the serum so that Hyde will be blamed. Throughout it all, Rumple is helping Jekyll out with the serum, because he needs it for some reason. I'll get back to that in a second.

In Storybrooke, Rumple locks Belle on Hook's ship using magic to protect her from Mr. Hyde and the Evil Queen. Turns out, of course, that Hyde was the victim here, for the most part. Jekyll ends up on the boat with Belle, and tries to kill her as revenge against Rumple for Mary's death, which he sees as Rumple's fault for helping him to create Hyde. Hook shows up to save Belle at the last second, and he kills Jekyll, which... kills Hyde. Awkward. It looks like we've found a way to kill the Evil Queen, then.

Regina makes Emma promise that she'll take Regina out if it looks like Regina's darkness is coming back. Turns out, excising the darkness doesn't remove the possibility of another downfall, as Jekyll proved by giving in to his jealousy. Rumple, meanwhile, tells Belle that she'll end up coming back to him through necessity. She'll need Rumple's protection once the baby comes. But Belle seems to be really done with Rumple, and she holds her ground.

Okay. Where to even start with this? I love the fact that we're unraveling the whole good/evil dichotomy that has been such a big part of this show from day one. There have always been complexities. Rumple was a villain, but he was doing it all for his son. Regina can recover from her darkness. Hades is capable of True Love. Etc., etc. But here, we're seeing a very clear rejection of the notion that each person comes with two easily identifiable halves, and that you can separate the two halves with no blurring of the lines.

Turns out, Jekyll's serum doesn't really separate good from evil. If anything, it separates reason from passion. This is a really interesting idea. It reminds me of what so many science fiction TV shows have done as a one-episode idea: a person is split into two halves. At first, you think one is good and one is bad, but you then learn that each needs the other. Not a particularly complex idea, but I think there's a lot of potential nuance there. Regina needs the Evil Queen within her. Jekyll needed Hyde within him. I also like the fact that this isn't a straight up twist, like Jekyll is a mustache twirling villain and Hyde is all sunshine and daisies. Jekyll was a wimp, and he was mad with jealousy, and he accidentally killed the woman he proclaimed to love, which sent him down a dark path. I like that we're not drawing any clear-cut lines here. Also, even though I was sympathizing with Hyde and was actually interested in continuing to learn about him, I'm actually pretty pleased that Jekyll and Hyde have been killed off. Their story feels like the kind of thing that Once Upon a Time could have dragged out for way too long. It's refreshing to cut it off at the pass like this, and make room for other things.

Then there's Rumple. Turns out, he wanted the serum from Jekyll originally because he had started to fall for Belle, back when she was his captive in his castle. He wanted to excise these feelings of love, because he was afraid they would make him weak. In the present day, he tells Belle that he's glad that it wouldn't have worked, because he'd never want to lose the love he feels for her. Ugh. I would have been annoyed at this part of the episode, if not for the fact that Belle just slayed with her reaction. Rumple locked her up against her will, and continues to insist that he still loves her and wants to be with her, which is all kinds of gross. And Belle knows it. She's soooo done with him. I loved watching her stand up to him. I think the responsibility for another life has really strengthened her resolve. I'll be so disappointed if Belle ends up with Rumple in the end. I want her to hold firm, and based on this episode, it looks like that's what's happening!

Then there's Hook. Last week, we had this brief moment where Hook talked about how horrible he felt for laying a hand on Belle all those years ago. His offer of his ship was in part to show that he was trying to change. But instead of that being a one-off comment, it turns out that it might be the beginning of a friendship between Hook and Belle. I'm beyond happy about that. I loved that Hook got to show up and save the day at the end, especially because this isn't being framed as some BS damsel in distress thing. Belle doesn't have magic, and she was unarmed. She actually does pretty well defending herself, noticing that something is wrong with Jekyll, calling for help, and then stabbing him in the neck to slow him down as she tries to escape. As an added bonus to this whole situation, can you imagine how much it gets on Rumple's nerves to have Hook, of all people, be the one to save Belle's life?

Rumple's new haircut looks awesome, by the way. Just wanted to get that in there before I wrap it up.

And... yeah! I'm wrapping it up! This was a good episode, despite my complaints about Snow's subplot. I hope we can see more of her actually managing the school and taking on some authority. Also, I'm not unexcited about the Aladdin story, even if I thought this teaser was a bit weak. The main story, however, was awesome! I'm really happy that Belle is standing up for herself, and I'm also very happy that Hook is being awesome. And I'm happy that we've got this intense twist about the way to kill the Evil Queen. Should be mighty interesting!

8/10